If Bob Zubrin is in such a big hurry to get to Mars, why not go himself? If not himself, then someone who thinks like him. If such a intrepid plan were put into effect, how would it be accomplished?
As you may know, I've written several posts about fusion propulsion. Yesterday, I wrote a post about going to the Moon first. But, if you prefer Mars, know this: it is dangerous and a long journey. It is similar to the situation facing Charles Lindbergh when he took off for the first transatlantic flight back in 1927. Aviation was in its infancy and there probably wasn't anyone brave enough, or crazy enough to do it. But Lindbergh did it and became a hero.
While fooling around with the rocket equation yesterday, I plugged in some numbers for ISP and thrust for a proposed fusion engine. Let's say that I didn't make any mistakes. You could get this baby to go 100,000 miles per hour, or faster. But the thought occurred to me, isn't that kind of dangerous to go that fast? What if you run into something? Well, it just so happens that almost any realistic speed for an interplanetary trip, you are going to have some collision risk. Of course, the faster you go, the greater the risk.
If you wanted to strip your spaceship down to the smallest mass possible, with the most thrust potential as you could manage, you may be able to construct a single man fusion powered ship that will take you to Mars and back in a reasonably short amount of time. You would be taking great risks if you did that. You may very well die. But there is a chance that you could make it and become a hero, as Charles Lindbergh did.
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